The Five People Theory

Perhaps you've heard about the vast importance of the five people you spend the most time with? The quote by famous businessman Jim Rohn says: "You are the average of the five people you spend most of your time with." Yikes. Not sure how this rule works for me, with a 3 year old and 5 year old being in my top two slots...

Unsure how to take it from here, I've been thinking about how I could translate and broaden this theory...

Introducing... The Proximity Rule

While I do think it's important to understand the implications of WHO you spend your time with, I want to touch on the importance of ALL the other things we allow into our proximity. Alongside of the people we are with the most... there are oodles of things which fill our minds, senses, surroundings.

Thoughtless radio dialogues on our commute, crap cluttered on cabinets (at home and at work!), buzz feed lists on our laptops, cynical tweets on our phone, hugely unimportant updates on our Facebook feeds, and yet we hungrily, mindlessly go back for more...

"We are what we repeatedly do," said Aristotle.

Be Intentional

How do you fill your time? And when you do what you do...what are you really looking to get?

My life made a dramatic turn for the better since discovering podcasts like: Design Matters or The Tim Ferris Show. Listening to intelligent people have meaningful conversations is pretty much the cat's meow. Especially when you are a mostly-at-home mom growing the business of your dreams right beside a 7 foot tall pile of laundry at 10:30 pm on a Friday night.

Blogs like: Brain Pickings by Maria Popova and posts like 'Something for the Weekend' from Susannah Conway are enough to keep my brain and soul fed. I find myself clicking around on inspiring/intelligent links rather than drooling over pies & lies on Facebook or sexy-crude tweets on twitter. The little shifts make a huge difference.

Do what you do on purpose.

To each her (or his) own, of course! But adding a healthy dose of intention is the cure here. Do what you do on purpose. Be where you are on purpose. Fill your time and your space with things on purpose. Fill up your mind and your heart on purpose.

XO,

Sylvia

PS- Hey you. Yea, you! Sharing my exuberance & insights with real people in real-lifesies is a personal favorite of mine. If you are looking for an inspirational keynote speaker or engaging workshop for your team, organization, or group... Click here! Presentations are available for Kansas City and beyond!